System and method for determining an instantaneous absolute position and orientation of an entity in a navigation space

ABSTRACT

A method and system for determining a refined absolute position and refined absolute orientation of an entity in a navigation space is provided. The system includes a plurality of sensors, a coarse absolute position and orientation estimation unit to determine a coarse absolute position and/or a coarse absolute orientation, of entity based on a position data captured by sensors at predefined frequency/interval, a relative position and orientation estimation unit to determine a relative position and/or a relative orientation, of the entity based on a set of data captured from sensors, a navigation guidance unit to provide and update unique attributes of the navigation space, and an analytics unit to determine refined absolute position or refined absolute orientation of the entity by fine tuning: the coarse absolute position based on relative position and the coarse absolute orientation based on relative orientation using the navigation map.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a national stage application of the PatentCooperation Treaty (PCT) international stage application titled “SYSTEMAND METHOD FOR DETERMINING AN INSTANTANEOUS ABSOLUTE POSITION ANDORIENTATION OF AN ENTITY IN A NAVIGATION SPACE”, numberedPCT/IN2021/051116, filed at World Intellectual Property Organization(WIPO) on Nov. 29, 2021. The aforementioned PCT international phaseapplication claims priority from the Indian Utility Non-ProvisionalPatent Application (NPA) with serial number 202041052367 filed on 1 Dec.2020 with the title “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DETERMINING AN INSTANTANEOUSABSOLUTE POSITION AND ORIENTATION OF AN ENTITY IN A NAVIGATION SPACE.”Also the patent application filed in India is granted with the Grant No.408568. The contents of the abovementioned Non-provisional patentapplication and Pct application are included in entirety as referenceherein.

BACKGROUND Technical Field

The embodiments of the present invention are generally related to aposition sensing and navigation system. The embodiments of the presentinvention are particularly related to a position sensing and navigationsystem for moving objects. The embodiments of the present invention aremore particularly related to a method and system for determining aninstantaneous absolute position and orientation, referred subsequentlyas refined absolute position and refined absolute orientationrespectively in the document, of an entity such as robot (BOT) in anavigation space.

Description of the Related Art

Pursuant to an exemplary scenario, determining the position androtational orientation of an object within a defined space is apractical problem that has brought about many solutions, each dedicatedtoward solving the specific requirements of an application. Severalexisting techniques for determining position or orientation of objects(stationary or mobile) within a given space include for example optical,ultrasonic, or radio-based techniques. However, most of the existingtechniques do not provide angular orientation information and existingtechniques that enable angular orientation measurement, lack positionaldetermination. For example, several existing techniques employ a GlobalPositioning System (GPS) for position determination, but it lacksorientation determination capability for stationary objects and also GPSoperability suffers indoors from signal attenuation and reflections, andaccordingly is not a good choice for indoor applications. Magnetometersprovide absolute orientation but are highly susceptible to dynamicallychanging magnetic field near the sensor. While they may work well incontrolled scenario, for load carrying applications the magnetic natureof the load could make the readings unreliable. Ultrasonic methodsoperate well indoors but lack orientation determination. Additionally,the existing techniques such as the laser-based techniques (Lidar) offerboth position and orientation but at a huge cost. Moreover, existingtechniques that use position data associated with loosely fixed objectson the floor like furniture, machinery and the like as reference pointsare highly vulnerable to dynamically changing scenario on the floor.

Moreover, while navigating through narrow passages, it is critical tomaintain the entity close to a pre-defined path (e.g. middle line of thepassage) so as to avoid any collision or false interpretation of fixedstructures like wall as obstructions. To maintain the entity along thepre-defined path, accurate knowledge of the position of the entity (suchas for example, within few centimeters error) becomes an absolutenecessity. In order to keep the entity in the ideal path, a currentposition and deviation from the ideal path of the entity needs to beaccurately known with a desirable error of less than for example, 10centimeters.

Hence there is a need for a cost-effective alternate method and systemfor determining absolute position and orientation of an entity whileproviding good accuracy along with an elimination of any dependency on adynamically changing scenario in the navigation space except plannedchanges such as a change in the navigation path, modifying the layoutlike breaking a wall and the like. Further there is a need for a systemand method to find an absolute position of an entity (hereafter calledBOT), stationary or moving, in a 2D coordinate system (say, Cartesian)using a diversified set of data captured from different sourcing devicesalong with an assistance of a guiding entity (e.g. unique map) thatprovides the required guidance on the usage of the diversified set ofdata dynamically to arrive at a required absolute position accuratelyfor a given navigation segment.

The above mentioned shortcomings, disadvantages and problems areaddressed herein, which will be understood by reading and studying thefollowing specification.

OBJECTIVES OF THE EMBODIMENTS

The prime object of the present invention is to provide a system and amethod to determine a refined absolute position and refined absoluteorientation of an entity in a navigation space in a cost-effectivemanner along with good accuracy while eliminating any dependency on anydynamically changing scenario or unplanned changes in the navigationspace. With no reference to historical data, quality of the absoluteposition remains the same and does not degrade during any interval oftime due to dependency on recency of old data.

Another object of the embodiment herein is to provide a system and amethod to determine a refined absolute position and refined absoluteorientation of an entity in a navigation space based on extraction ofdiversified features in the navigation space using diversified sensorsused to seamlessly help improve accuracy of absolute position andorientation including on-the-fly switchovers.

Yet another objective of the embodiment herein is to provide a systemand a method to determine a refined absolute position and refinedabsolute orientation of an entity in a navigation space that achievesaccurate absolute position using coarse absolute position and a uniquecombination of relative positions extracted from diversified sensorsusing specific features in the navigation space.

Yet another objective of the embodiment herein is to provide a systemand a method to determine a refined absolute position and refinedabsolute orientation of an entity in a navigation space using a seamlessswitch-over between sensors during navigation based on the context assupported by a unique navigation map.

These and other objects and advantages of the embodiments herein willbecome readily apparent from the following detailed description taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings.

SUMMARY

The following details present a simplified summary of the embodimentsherein to provide a basic understanding of the several aspects of theembodiments herein. This summary is not an extensive overview of theembodiments herein. It is not intended to identify key/critical elementsof the embodiments herein or to delineate the scope of the embodimentsherein. Its sole purpose is to present the concepts of the embodimentsherein in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detaileddescription that is presented later.

The other objects and advantages of the embodiments herein will becomereadily apparent from the following description taken in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawings. It should be understood, however, thatthe following descriptions, while indicating preferred embodiments andnumerous specific details thereof, are given by way of illustration andnot of limitation. Many changes and modifications may be made within thescope of the embodiments herein without departing from the spiritthereof, and the embodiments herein include all such modifications.

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription. This Summary is not intended to identify key or essentialfeatures of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used asan aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

The various embodiments herein provide a system and to determine anabsolute position and absolute orientation of an entity in a navigationspace in a cost-effective manner along with good accuracy whileeliminating any dependency on any dynamically changing scenario orunplanned changes in the navigation space. With no reference tohistorical data, quality of the absolute position remains the same anddoes not degrade during any interval of time due to dependency onrecency of old data.

According to one embodiment herein, a system for determining a refinedabsolute position and refined absolute orientation of an entity in anavigation space is disclosed. According to an embodiment of the presentinvention, the system includes a plurality of sensors including a firstset of sensors disposed on a first plurality of locations on the entity,and wherein the first set of sensors are part of a cartesian coordinatesystem provided by a local positioning system formed using a technologysuch as, but not limited to, UWB, Bluetooth, Zig-bee, Ultrasound,others. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the systemincludes a second set of diversified sensors disposed on a secondplurality of locations on the entity. The system also includes a coarseabsolute position estimation unit configured to determine at least oneof: a coarse absolute position and a coarse absolute orientation, of theentity based on a position data captured by the first set of sensors ina two-dimensional cartesian plane of the cartesian coordinate system atpredetermined frequency/interval. The system further includes a relativeposition and orientation estimation unit configured to determine atleast one of: a plurality of a relative position and a relativeorientation, of the entity relative to a predetermined path based on aset of data captured from the second set of diversified sensors whereinthe data captured represent one of a relative deviation and a relativeinclination of the entity with respect to preset known fixed physicalfeatures in the navigation space. The system further includes anavigation guidance unit configured to provide unique attributes basedon a desired navigable layout identified in the indoor navigation spaceand to update one or more of the attributes of a navigation mapdynamically as a learning/feedback based on a historical navigationdata. The system further includes an analytics unit configured todetermine at least one of a refined absolute position and a refinedabsolute orientation of the entity by fine tuning the coarse absoluteposition and the coarse absolute orientation based on one or more of theplurality of inputs provided by the relative position and orientationestimation unit, coarse absolute position of the entity and thenavigation map.

According to one embodiment herein, the analytics unit is configured totransform the predetermined path by rotating a navigation planeassociated with the predetermined path by a rotation angle to align thepredetermined path to become parallel to X-axis or Y-axis in thetwo-dimensional cartesian plane and to generate a transformed navigationplane, and wherein the coarse absolute position is also rotated throughthe same rotation angle to obtain a transformed coarse absolute positionof the entity, and wherein by modifying/correcting the transformedcoarse absolute position of the entity, based on one or more of theplurality of inputs from the relative position and orientationestimation unit, a transformed refined absolute position of the entityis obtained, and wherein the transformed coarse absolute position of theentity is corrected/modified by substituting a combination of atransformed ideal coordinate value of interest and one or more of theplurality of inputs from the relative position and orientationestimation unit, to either X or Y value of the transformed coarseabsolute position coordinates of the entity depending up on the rotationapplied during transformation of the plane, and wherein the transformedideal coordinate value of interest is equal to a transformed idealstarting point coordinate value selected based on the transformationapplied, and wherein the ideal starting point coordinate is thecoordinate of the starting node in the line segment obtained from thenavigation map, and wherein the refined absolute position of the entityis obtained by rotating back the navigation plane in the reversedirection, through the same rotation angle, to the original orientationof the navigation plane, and wherein the transformed refined absoluteposition rotates by the same angle to provide the refined absoluteposition of the entity.

According to one embodiment herein, the refined absolute orientation ofthe entity is derived based on 1) the relative orientation of the entityobtained from the relative position and orientation estimation unit and2) the coarse absolute orientation obtained from the coarse absoluteposition and orientation estimation unit, wherein in the transformednavigation plane, the relative position and orientation estimation unitprovides the relative orientation of the entity with respect to thetransformed path which is either parallel to one of X-axis or Y-axisbased on the transformation applied, wherein a transformed absoluteorientation of the entity in the transformed navigation plane is derivedby adding the relative orientation of the entity along with its sign tothe absolute orientation of the transformed path, as the absoluteorientation of the transformed path is the same as one of X-axis orY-axis, and wherein by rotating the transformed navigation plane in thereverse direction by the same quantity as the rotation angle, thetransformed absolute orientation angle undergoes similar rotation andprovides an interim representation of the absolute orientation of theentity, wherein the refined absolute orientation of the entity isobtained as a weighted combination of the coarse absolute orientationand the interim representation of the absolute orientation of the entity

According to one embodiment herein, the analytics unit is configured toselect and use one or more of the relative positions and the relativeorientations from the relative position and orientation estimation unitfrom among a plurality of inputs. Such plurality of inputs to theanalytics unit is derived by the relative position and orientationestimation unit using the diversified set of sensors among the secondset of sensors. The choice of the specific inputs to be used is guidedby the unique attributes provided by the navigation guidance unit basedon the coarse absolute position.

According to one embodiment herein, the analytics unit is configured toseamlessly select and use one or more of the relative positions and therelative orientations from the relative position and orientationestimation unit from among a plurality of inputs while navigatingthrough different sections of a navigation layout involving either aplurality of line segments or a single line segment with varyingphysical attributes, wherein the selection is guided by the navigationguidance unit based on the coarse absolute position of the entitywherein the navigation guidance unit provides the physical attributesassociated with each such line segment like, for example but not limitedto, a wall adjacent to the navigation path along with its side, presenceof lane marking and others.

According to one embodiment herein, the first plurality of locations onthe entity comprises a front end and a rear end of the entity and thesecond plurality of locations comprises at least one of: a left side ofthe entity, a right side of the entity, a front end of the entity, and aback end of the entity.

According to one embodiment herein, a method of navigating an entityalong a predetermined path in a navigation space is disclosed. Themethod includes 1) initiating navigation of the entity along thepredetermined path in the navigation space, 2) determining at least oneof: a coarse absolute position and a coarse orientation of the entitybased on a position data captured at predefined frequency/interval by afirst set of sensors from among a plurality of sensors, disposed on afirst plurality of locations on the entity, 3) determining at least oneof: a relative position and a relative orientation, of the entity withrespect to the predetermined path based on a set of data captured from asecond set of diversified sensors from among the plurality of sensors,disposed on a second plurality of locations on the entity, 4) selectingat least one of: a relative position and relative orientation of theentity with respect to the predetermined path from among the pluralityof relative position and relative orientation based on the coarseabsolute position and the navigation map 5) determining a refinedabsolute position and a refined absolute orientation of the entity byfine tuning: the coarse absolute position based on relative position andthe coarse absolute orientation based on relative orientation, using thenavigation map, wherein the navigation map is generated and updatedbased on a map data and a machine learning model based on a historicalnavigation data. 6) Continuing steps 2 to 5 until the destination isreached.

These and other aspects of the embodiments herein will be betterappreciated and understood when considered in conjunction with thefollowing description and the accompanying drawings. It should beunderstood, however, that the following descriptions, while indicatingpreferred embodiments and numerous specific details thereof, are givenby way of illustration and not of limitation. Many changes andmodifications may be made within the scope of the embodiments hereinwithout departing from the spirit thereof, and the embodiments hereininclude all such modifications.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The embodiments of the present invention will be better understood fromthe following detailed description with reference to the drawings, inwhich:

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a system for determining aposition and an orientation of an entity in a navigation space,according to an embodiment herein.

FIG. 2A illustrates a perspective view of an entity (robot) fitted witha system provided for determining a position and an orientation of anentity in a navigation space and fixed with a first set of sensors atthe first plurality of locations on the entity, according to oneembodiment herein.

FIG. 2B illustrates a plan view of positioning of the first set ofsensors at the first plurality of locations on the entity fixed with asystem provided for determining a coarse absolute position and a coarseabsolute orientation of an entity in a navigation space, according toone embodiment herein.

FIG. 3A illustrates a perspective view of an entity (robot) fitted witha system provided for determining a position and an orientation of anentity in a navigation space and fixed with a second set of sensors atthe second plurality of locations on an example entity, according to oneembodiment herein.

FIG. 3B illustrates a process of determining a deviation of the entityfrom a predetermined path during navigation in the navigation spacederived by the relative position and orientation unit using thediversified set of sensors among the second set of sensors, according toone embodiment herein.

FIG. 3C illustrates a perspective view of an entity (robot) fitted witha system provided for determining a position and an orientation of anentity in a navigation space and fixed with a second set of sensors atthe second plurality of locations on an example entity, and illustratesa determining of the relative position and relative orientation of theentity with respect to a pair of lane markings, according to oneembodiment herein.

FIGS. 4A-4B illustrates a transformation of a navigation plane to alignthe predetermined path with Y-axis always using an analytics unitconfigured to transform the predetermined path by rotating a planeassociated with the predetermined path by a known rotation angle so asto align the predetermined path parallel to one of X-axis or Y-axis ofthe two-dimensional cartesian plane to generate a transformed navigationplane, and for applying a refinement based on the relative position andthe relative orientation in a system for determining a refined absoluteposition and a refined absolute orientation of an entity in a navigationspace, according to one embodiment herein.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart explaining a process of navigating an entityalong a predetermined path in a navigation space, using the system fordetermining a refined absolute position and a refined absoluteorientation of an entity in a navigation space, according to oneembodiment herein.

FIG. 6 illustrates a scenario when the entity navigates through varioussections of the navigation space while using relative position offeredby each section, either walls or the lanes, based on the choice ofrespective sensors, according to one embodiment herein.

FIG. 7 illustrates the reliability of the refined absolute positionoffered by the present invention during a typical navigation between twopoints, according to one embodiment herein.

FIG. 8 illustrates an embodiment to find the relative orientation of theentity using proximity sensing devices that form part of the second setof diversified sensors, according to one embodiment herein

Although the specific features of the embodiments herein are shown insome drawings and not in others. This is done for convenience only aseach feature may be combined with any or all of the other features inaccordance with the embodiments herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

In the following detailed description, a reference is made to theaccompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which the specificembodiments that may be practiced is shown by way of illustration. Theseembodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilledin the art to practice the embodiments and it is to be understood thatother changes may be made without departing from the scope of theembodiments. The following detailed description is therefore not to betaken in a limiting sense.

The embodiments herein and the various features and advantageous detailsthereof are explained more fully with reference to the non-limitingembodiments that are illustrated in the accompanying drawings anddetailed in the following description. Descriptions of well-knowncomponents and processing techniques are omitted so as to notunnecessarily obscure the embodiments herein. The examples used hereinare intended merely to facilitate an understanding of ways in which theembodiments herein may be practiced and to further enable those of skillin the art to practice the embodiments herein. Accordingly, the examplesshould not be construed as limiting the scope of the embodiments herein.

The various embodiments herein provide a system and method to determinea refined absolute position and a refined absolute orientation of anentity in a navigation space in a cost-effective manner along with goodaccuracy while eliminating any dependency on any dynamically changingscenario or unplanned changes in the navigation space. With no referenceto historical data, quality of the absolute position and orientationremains the same and does not degrade during any interval of time due todependency on recency of old data.

According to one embodiment herein, a system for determining a refinedabsolute position and a refined absolute orientation of an entity in anavigation space is disclosed. According to an embodiment of the presentinvention, the system includes a plurality of sensors including a firstset of sensors disposed on a first plurality of locations on the entity,wherein the first set of sensors are part of a cartesian coordinatesystem provided by a local positioning system formed using a technologysuch as, but not limited to, UWB, Bluetooth, Zig-bee, Ultrasound,others. According to another embodiment of the present invention, secondset of sensors disposed on a second plurality of locations on theentity. The system also includes a coarse absolute position andorientation estimation unit configured to determine at least one of: acoarse absolute position and a coarse absolute orientation, of theentity based on a position data captured in a two-dimensional cartesianplane of the cartesian coordinate system at predeterminedfrequency/interval by the first set of sensors. The system furtherincludes a relative position and orientation estimation unit configuredto determine at least one of: a relative position and a relativeorientation, of the entity relative to the predetermined path based on aset of data captured at a predetermined frequency/interval from thesecond set of diversified sensors. The system further includes anavigation guidance unit configured to provide unique attributes basedon a desired navigable layout identified in the indoor navigation spaceand to update one or more of the attributes dynamically as alearning/feedback based on a historical navigation data. The systemfurther includes an analytics unit configured to determine at least oneof a refined absolute position and a refined absolute orientation of theentity at a predetermined frequency/interval by fine tuning: the coarseabsolute position and the coarse absolute orientation based on 1) one ormore of the plurality of inputs provided by the relative position andorientation estimation unit, 2) coarse absolute position of the entityand 3) the unique attributes provided by the navigation guidance unit.

According to one embodiment herein, the analytics unit is configured totransform the predetermined path by rotating a navigation planeassociated with the predetermined path by a rotation angle to align thepredetermined path to become parallel to X-axis or Y-axis in thetwo-dimensional cartesian plane and to generate a transformed navigationplane, and wherein the coarse absolute position is also rotated throughthe same rotation angle to obtain a transformed coarse absolute positionof the entity, and wherein by modifying/correcting the transformedcoarse absolute position of the entity, based on one or more of theplurality of inputs from the relative position and orientationestimation unit, a transformed refined absolute position of the entityis obtained, and wherein the transformed coarse absolute position of theentity is corrected/modified by substituting a combination of atransformed ideal coordinate value of interest and one or more of theplurality of inputs from the relative position and orientationestimation unit, to either X or Y value of the transformed coarseabsolute position coordinates of the entity depending up on the rotationapplied during transformation of the plane, and wherein the transformedideal coordinate value of interest is equal to a transformed idealstarting point coordinate value selected based on the transformationapplied, and wherein the ideal starting point coordinate is thecoordinate of the starting node in the line segment obtained from thenavigation map, and wherein the refined absolute position of the entityis obtained by rotating back the navigation plane in the reversedirection, through the same rotation angle, to the original orientationof the navigation plane, and wherein the transformed refined absoluteposition rotates by the same angle to provide the refined absoluteposition of the entity.

According to one embodiment herein, the refined absolute orientation ofthe entity is derived based on 1) the relative orientation of the entityobtained from the relative position and orientation estimation unit and2) the coarse absolute orientation obtained from the coarse absoluteposition and orientation estimation unit, wherein in the transformednavigation plane the relative position and orientation estimation unitprovides the relative orientation of the entity with respect to thetransformed path which is either parallel to one of X-axis or Y-axisbased on the transformation applied, wherein as the absolute orientationof the transformed path is the same as one of X-axis or Y-axis, atransformed absolute orientation of the entity in the transformednavigation plane is derived by adding the relative orientation of theentity along with its sign to the absolute orientation of thetransformed path, wherein by rotating the transformed navigation planein the reverse direction by the same quantity as the rotation angle, thetransformed absolute orientation angle undergoes similar rotation andprovides an interim representation of the absolute orientation of theentity, wherein the refined absolute orientation of the entity isobtained as a weighted combination of the coarse absolute orientationand the interim representation of the absolute orientation of theentity.

According to one embodiment herein, the analytics unit is configured toselect and use one or more of the relative positions and the relativeorientations from the relative position and orientation estimation unitfrom among a plurality of inputs. Such plurality of inputs to theanalytics unit is derived by the relative position and orientationestimation unit using the diversified set of sensors among the secondset of sensors. The choice of the specific inputs to be used is guidedby the navigation map based on the coarse absolute position.

According to one embodiment herein, the analytics unit is configured toseamlessly select and use one or more of the relative positions and therelative orientations from the relative position and orientationestimation unit from among a plurality of inputs while navigatingthrough different sections of a navigation layout involving either aplurality of line segments or a single line segment with varyingphysical attributes, wherein the selection is guided by the navigationmap based on the coarse absolute position of the entity wherein thenavigation map provides the physical attributes associated with eachsuch line segment like, for example but not limited to, a wall adjacentto the navigation path along with its side, presence of lane marking andothers.

According to one embodiment herein, the first plurality of locations onthe entity comprises a front end and a rear end of the entity and thesecond plurality of locations comprises at least one of: a left side ofthe entity, a right side of the entity, a front end of the entity, and aback end of the entity.

According to one embodiment herein, a method of navigating an entityalong a predetermined path in a navigation space is disclosed. Themethod includes 1) initiating navigation of the entity along thepredetermined path in the navigation space, 2) determining at least oneof: a coarse absolute position and a coarse orientation of the entitybased on a position data captured at predetermined frequency/interval bya first set of sensors from among a plurality of sensors, disposed on afirst plurality of locations on the entity, 3) determining at least oneof: a relative position and a relative orientation, of the entity withrespect to the predetermined path based on a set of data captured from asecond set of diversified sensors from among the plurality of sensors,disposed on a second plurality of locations on the entity, 4) selectingat least one of: a relative position and relative orientation of theentity with respect to the predetermined path from among the pluralityof relative position and relative orientation based on the coarseabsolute position and a navigation map 5) determining a refined absoluteposition and a refined absolute orientation of the entity by finetuning: the coarse absolute position based on relative position and thecoarse absolute orientation based on relative orientation, using thenavigation map, wherein the instantaneous map is generated based on amap data and a machine learning model based on a historical navigationdata. 6) Continuing steps 2 to 5 until the destination is reached.

The various embodiments disclosed herein provide a method and a systemfor determining a refined absolute position and orientation of an entityin a navigation space is provided. The system and method disclosedherein determine a refined absolute position and a refined absoluteorientation of an entity in a navigation space based on extraction ofdiversified features in the navigation space using diversified sensorsused to seamlessly help improve accuracy of absolute position includingon-the-fly switchovers. Also, the system and method disclosed hereinachieves accurate absolute position using coarse absolute position and aunique combination of relative positions extracted from diversifiedsensors using specific features in the navigation space. The entity caninclude a stationary object or a mobile object.

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a system for determining aposition and an orientation of an entity in a navigation space,according to one embodiment herein. As depicted in FIG. 1 , the system102 includes a plurality of sensors 104, a coarse absolute position andorientation estimation unit 106, a relative position and orientationestimation unit 108, a navigation guidance unit 110, and an analyticsunit 112. The entity may include for example, a stationary object or amobile object (such as for example, a mobile factory equipment orvehicle). The navigation space includes an enclosed space or an openspace with predefined boundaries, such as for example, a space inside afactory unit. According to one embodiment herein, the plurality ofsensors includes a first set of sensors disposed on a first plurality oflocations on the entity and a second set of sensors disposed on a secondplurality of locations on the entity. The second plurality of sensorsmay include, for example, but not limited to, proximity sensing devices,image capture devices etc.

According to one embodiment herein, the coarse absolute position andorientation estimation unit 106 is configured to determine at least oneof: a coarse absolute position and a coarse absolute orientation, of theentity based on a position data captured at predeterminedfrequency/interval by the first set of sensors (explained further alongwith FIGS. 2A-2B). The predetermined path includes an ideal navigationpath for the entity within the navigation space. According to oneembodiment herein, the relative position and orientation estimation unit108 is configured to determine at least one of: a relative position anda relative orientation, of the entity relative to the predetermined pathbased on a set of data captured at predetermined frequency/interval fromthe second set of diversified sensors (explained further along withFIGS. 3A-3C).

According to one embodiment herein, the navigation guidance unit 110 isconfigured to provide unique attributes based on a desired navigablelayout identified in the indoor navigation space and to update one ormore of the attributes dynamically as a learning/feedback based on ahistorical navigation data. According to one embodiment herein, thenavigation guidance unit 110 includes a centralized/local system or adevice that contains unique pre-defined attributes for every linesegment of a virtual map created for the navigation space (e.g. factoryfloor). The unique pre-defined attributes include, but is not limited tonodes, destination points, absolute coordinates of nodes and otherattributes, valid paths connecting each node with every other node, anoptimal route between nodes, an associated cost and intermediatetransition angles, an augmentation for each line segment such as anideal path for the segment, presence/usability of a wall on either sideof the passage with sub-section granularity capturing possible gaps whenwall is not present, presence of lane lines on either side of the linesegment, a lane width, a maximum speed to travel based on lane width andany other consideration, an orientation angle offset at each node andthe like.

According to one embodiment herein, the navigation guidance unit 110,generates an initial map using initial set of input data such as forexample node coordinates, valid paths, path width, and the like. Theinitial set of input data is processed to arrive at a robust map in aunique way that pretty much has every attribute required to performsuccessful navigation from the very first run without any specifictraining need for the entity 200. For subsequent refinements/dynamicupdate of attributes like node orientation angle offset, presence of awall or fixed structure along path, reliability of a lane marking on thefloor for a given segment and the like. The navigation guidance unit110, gathers/collects various data from the entity during navigation andapplies machine learning (ML) techniques for further inference.According to an embodiment of the present invention, the dynamic mapgeneration unit 110, uses the data inferred based on ML collected basedon the experience of various entities and further applies artificialintelligence techniques and refines the attributes updates the initialmap. Subsequently, the updated map is made available from very nextnavigation for all entities in the navigation space.

According to one embodiment herein—the analytics unit 112 is configuredto determine at least one of a refined absolute position and a refinedabsolute orientation of the entity at a predetermined frequency/intervalby fine tuning: the coarse absolute position and the coarse absoluteorientation based on 1) one or more of the plurality of inputs providedby the relative position and orientation estimation unit (108), 2)coarse absolute position of the entity and 3) unique attributes providedby the navigation guidance unit (110). According to one embodimentherein, the analytics unit 112 is configured to transform thepredetermined path 304 by rotating a navigation plane 402 associatedwith the predetermined path by a rotation angle so as to align thepredetermined path parallel to one of X-axis or Y-axis of thetwo-dimensional cartesian plane to generate a transformed navigationplane 404 wherein the coarse absolute position as well undergoing thesame rotation to become transformed coarse absolute position of theentity. According to one embodiment herein, the analytics unit 112 isconfigured to apply a refinement to the transformed absolute positionbased on one or more of the plurality of inputs from the relativeposition and orientation estimation unit to obtain a transformed refinedabsolute position of the entity on the transformed navigation, whereinthe refinement is a simple substitution of a combination of atransformed ideal coordinate value of interest and one or more of theplurality of deviations from the predetermined path from among theplurality of inputs from the relative position and orientationestimation unit, to either X or Y value of the transformed coarseabsolute position coordinates of the entity depending up on the rotationapplied during transformation of the plane, wherein the transformedideal coordinate value of interest is the same as one of the transformedideal starting point coordinate values selected based on thetransformation applied, wherein the ideal starting point is thetheoretical coordinates for the starting node in the line segmentobtained from the navigation map. According to one embodiment herein,the analytics unit 112 is configured to obtain a refined absoluteposition of the entity by rotating the navigation plane in the reversedirection by same quantity as the rotation angle back to the originalorientation of the navigation plane 402, wherein the transformed refinedabsolute position rotates by the same angle to provide the refinedabsolute position of the entity. (explained further along with FIGS.4A-4B).

According to one embodiment herein, the analytics unit 112 derives therefined absolute orientation of the entity based on 1) the relativeorientation of the entity obtained from the relative position andorientation estimation unit 108 and 2) the coarse absolute orientationobtained from the coarse absolute position and orientation estimationunit 106, wherein in the transformed navigation plane the relativeposition and orientation estimation unit 108 provides the relativeorientation of the entity with respect to the transformed path which iseither parallel to one of X-axis or Y-axis based on the transformationapplied, wherein as the absolute orientation of the transformed path isthe same as one of X-axis or Y-axis, a transformed absolute orientationof the entity in the transformed navigation plane is derived by addingthe relative orientation of the entity along with its sign to theabsolute orientation of the transformed path, wherein by rotating thetransformed navigation plane 404 in the reverse direction by the samequantity as the rotation angle, the transformed absolute orientationangle undergoes similar rotation and provides an interim representationof the absolute orientation of the entity, wherein the refined absoluteorientation of the entity is obtained as a weighted combination of thecoarse absolute orientation and the interim representation of theabsolute orientation of the entity. (explained further along with FIGS.3C, 4A-4B and 8 ). According to an embodiment of the present invention,the analytics unit 112 is configured to select and use one or more ofthe relative positions and the relative orientations from the relativeposition and orientation estimation unit 108 from among a plurality ofinputs, wherein such plurality of inputs to the analytics unit 112 isderived by the relative position and orientation estimation unit 108using the diversified set of sensors among the second set of sensors.The choice of the specific inputs to be used is guided by the navigationmap based on the coarse absolute position. According to one embodimentherein, the analytics unit 112 is configured to seamlessly select anduse one or more of the relative position and the relative orientationfrom among the plurality of inputs while navigating through differentsections of a navigation layout involving either a plurality of linesegments or a single line segment with varying physical attributes,wherein the selection is guided by the navigation map based on thecoarse absolute position of the entity wherein the navigation mapprovides the physical attributes associated with each such line segmentlike, for example but not limited to, a wall adjacent to the navigationpath along with its side, presence of lane marking and others (explainedfurther along with FIG. 6 ).

FIGS. 2A-2B exemplarily illustrates positioning of the first set ofsensors at the first plurality of locations on an example entity,according to one embodiment herein. As depicted in FIG. 2A the exampleentity 200 includes a front end 206 and a rear end 204. The first set ofsensors 202A-H includes a rear set of sensors 202E-H disposed on therear end 204 and a front set of sensors 202 A-D disposed on the frontend 206, of the example entity 102. FIG. 2B depicts a representation ofpositioning of the first set of sensors 202A-H on the example entity 200in an X-Y plane 208. As depicted in FIG. 2B the points B1 to B4 and thepoints F1 to F4 represent the positioning of the sensors 202E-H and202A-D respectively. The first set of sensors 202A-H are positioned in amanner to achieve a three-dimensional spatial diversity. The first setof sensors 202A-H capture an absolute position of the example entity andthe absolute position provided by each sensor is used to calculate aredundant set of absolute orientation representations and an average ofthe absolute orientation representations is used to determine anabsolute orientation of the entity in the XY plane 208.

According to one embodiment herein, the position of the entity (such asexample entity 200) as captured by the first plurality of sensors (suchas the first plurality of sensors 202A-H) is used to determine at leastone of a coarse absolute position and/or a coarse absolute orientation.According to one embodiment herein, the coarse absolute position andorientation estimation unit 106 determines of the lines B1F1 212 & B4F4214 as depicted in FIG. 2B. The lines B1F1 212 & B4F4 214, from back tofront provide a representation of the angle that the entity is facing atany given instance with respect to the predetermined path. The coarseabsolute position and orientation estimation unit 106 determines theangle of the lines B1B4 216 and F1F4 218. The lines B1B4 216 and F1F4218 provide an angle that is 90 degrees higher than the angle of theentity. The absolute position unit 106 combines the angles to get aQuad_Sensor_Angle. The Quad_Sensor_Angle is given by equation (1):

Quad_Sensor_Angle=((∠B1F1+∠B4F4+(∠B1B4−90)+(∠F1F4−90))/4 2   (1)

According to one embodiment herein, the coarse absolute position andorientation estimation unit 106 determines a first centre point (BC)using the points B1B2B3B4. The BC is given by equation (2):

BC=(B1+B2+B3+B4)/4  (2)

According to one embodiment herein, the coarse absolute position andorientation estimation unit 106 determines a second centre point (FC)using the points B1B2B3B4. FC is given by equation (3):

FC=(F1+F2+F3+F4)/4  (3)

The coarse absolute position and orientation estimation unit 106determines an angle (Centre_Of_Sensors_Angle) representing the line BCFCgiven by equation (3):

Centre_Of_Sensors_Angle=∠BCFC  (4)

According to one embodiment herein, the coarse absolute position andorientation estimation unit 106 determines an angle representing theline B1F4 and an angle representing the line B4F1. Although the linesB1F4 and B4F1 have an offset with respect to the orientation of theentity, as the first set of sensors 202A-H are positioned in arectangular fashion, the offset gets negated. For example, as depictedin FIG. 2B an actual orientation of the entity is 270 degrees. SupposeB1F4 is at an angle 300 degrees, then B4F1 would be at 240 degrees.Accordingly, a sum of the angle of B1F4 and angle of B4F1 gives arepresentation of instantaneous orientation (Big_Diagonal_Angle) of theentity given by equation (5):

Big_Diagonal_Angle=(∠B1F4+∠B4F1)/2  (5)

According to one embodiment herein, the coarse absolute position andorientation estimation unit 106 determines uses the points BC and FCidentified in Centre_Of_Sensors_Angle. The coarse absolute position andorientation estimation unit 106 determines angles representing BCF1 &BCF4 and determines an average of the angles to obtain an angleSD_Angle_1. The coarse absolute position and orientation estimation unit106 determines angles representing B1FC & B4FC and an average of theangles to get an angle SD_Angle_2. The coarse absolute position andorientation estimation unit 106 determines a Small_Diagonal_Angle byaveraging SD_Angle_1 and SD_Angle_2 given by equation (6):

Small_Diagonal_Angle=((∠BCF1+∠BCF4)/2+(∠B1FC+∠B4FC)/2)/2  (6)

According to one embodiment herein, the coarse absolute position andorientation estimation unit 106 determines a coarse absolute orientationof the entity given by equation (7):

coarse absoluteorientation=(K1*Quad_Sensor_Angle+K2*Centre_Of_Sensors_Angle+K3*Big_Diagonal_Angle+K4*Small_Diagonal_Angle)/(K1+K2+K3+K4)  (7)

where K1, K2, K3 and K4 are multiplication constants arrived based on aconfidence level of each angle representation.

FIGS. 3A-3B exemplarily illustrates positioning of second set of sensorsat the second plurality of locations on an example entity, according toone embodiment herein. As depicted in FIG. 3A the second set of sensors302A-C are positioned along a left-side surface 304 of the exampleentity 200. The second set of sensors 302A-C can also be positionedalong a right-side surface of the example entity 200 (not shown). Thesecond set of sensors 302A-C provide a measure of a distance (d) of theentity from side walls or a fixed structure located on a side of apathway.

The relative position and orientation estimation unit 108 determines adeviation from the predetermined path (ideal navigation path) based onthe distance (d) as explained further along with FIG. 3B. FIG. 3Billustrates a process of determining a deviation of the entity from thepredetermined path during navigation in the navigation space, inaccordance with an embodiment. As depicted in FIG. 3B, a width of theentity 200 is represented by “b” 306, a distance of the entity 200 froma left side wall 310 is represented by “d” 308. The relative positionand orientation estimation unit 108 determines the deviation (Δw) 312given by equation (8):

Δw=w/2−(d+b/2)  (8)

-   -   where w/2 represents a distance between the left wall 310 and        the predetermined path 304 and a distance between the        predetermined bath and an assembly line-1 314 or assembly line-2        316 in a navigation space.

According to one embodiment herein, the relative position andorientation estimation unit 108 is configured to determine a relativeposition and/or a relative orientation of the entity 200 based on asensor (for example, an image capturing device) from among the secondset of sensors, positioned in front, back, and/or middle of the entity200 by determining a relative position of the entity 200 inside a markedpassage like a lane as depicted in FIG. 3C. Sensors 306A and 306B placedon the front side 206 and the rear side 204 respectively as shown inFIG. 3A represent one such embodiment.

FIG. 3C exemplarily illustrates determining the relative position andrelative orientation of the entity 200, according to one embodimentherein. More particularly, FIG. 3C depicts a front perspective view ofthe entity 200 with a sensor (image capture device) 320 positioned onthe front side of the entity 200. The entity navigates along thepredetermined path 304. The sensor 320 captures the distance of theentity 200 relative to a pair of lane lines 322 and 324. The relativeposition and orientation estimation unit 108 determines a deviation Awof the entity 200 from the predetermined path (or ideal path) 304 basedon a distance from the middle of the entity (where sensor or imagecapture device is placed). The deviation Aw of the entity 200 isdetermined based on equation (8). Also, the difference in the angle ofthe lane lines as perceived by the sensor 320 enables the relativeposition and orientation estimation unit 108 to determine the relativeorientation of the entity with respect to the lane lines.

According to one embodiment herein, the relative position andorientation estimation unit 108 determines the relative position andrelative orientation of the entity 200 using a system that provides thedepth information of the predetermined path 304. Using the depthinformation, the relative position and orientation estimation unit 108draws virtual lanes and then the deviation from the predetermined path304 is identified as explained along with FIGS. 3B-3C.

FIGS. 4A-4B depicts a transformation of a navigation plane 402 to alignthe predetermined path with Y-axis always as shown in the transformednavigation plane 404, according to one embodiment herein, wherein thecoarse absolute position transforms to become transformed coarseabsolute position of the entity. A floor alignment similar to FIG. 3Brequires a simple step to augment a deviation of the entity 200 from thepredetermined path, by refining only the Y value among the XYcoordinates determined based on the transformed coarse absoluteposition. For a generic solution that eliminates the constraint onfactory floor alignment with XY axes, the analytics unit 112 transformsthe predetermined pathway (line segment) by means of plane rotation soas to always align it parallel to one of the axes, such as for example,Y axis. As depicted in FIG. 4A, if (x,y) is an absolute set ofcoordinates of the entity 200 provided by the coarse absolute positionand orientation estimation unit 106, the analytics unit 112 rotates aninitial plane 402 by Θ (angle between the direction of the entity andthe Y-axis) to obtain a transformed plane 404 parallel to the Y axis,the transformed coordinates of the entity 200 in a transformed plane 404would be (x_(t), y_(t)), where x_(t) is given by equation (9):

x _(t) =x*cos(Θ)+y*sin(Θ); y _(t) =−x*sin(Θ)+y*cos(Θ)  (9)

As deviation from the predetermined (ideal) path in the transformedplane 404 is a simple refinement only to x_(t), the analytics unit 112applies the refinement based on the instantaneous relative position ofthe entity 200 received from the relative position and orientationestimation unit 108 to get the coordinates (x′_(t), y_(t)). Given,(x_(i), y_(i)) the start coordinates in the predetermined path, thetransformed x, value x_(i) ^(t) is given by equation (10):

x ^(i) _(t) =x ^(i)*cos(Θ)+y ^(i)*sin(Θ)  (10)

After transformation, the predetermined (ideal) path would be parallelto the Y-axis and all values in the predetermined path will have samevalue x^(i) _(t). The analytics unit 112 applies refinement to x, basedon the instantaneous relative position of the entity 200 received fromthe relative position and orientation estimation unit 108 to obtain x′,given by equation (11):

x′ _(t) =x ^(i) _(t) −Δw  (11)

upon the wall being on the right side of a direction of navigation ofthe entity 200, then x′, is given by equation (12):

x′ _(t) =x ^(i) _(t) +Δw  (12)

upon the wall being on the left side of a direction of navigation of theentity 200, where Aw is the deviation of the entity with respect to thepre-determined path 304 derived in equation (8) (explained further withFIG. 3B), where, x^(i) _(t) is the transformed ‘x’ value of the startcoordinate in the ideal path, w is the width of the path, d is therelative distance reported by the plurality of sensors from the side ofthe entity 200 to the wall, and b is the width of the entity 200.

According to one embodiment herein, the analytics unit 112 rotates theplane back to the original orientation of the navigation plane 402 afterrotation and translation in order to obtain (x′_(t), y_(t)), as depictedin FIG. 4B. The analytics unit 112 obtains the refined absolute positionof the entity 200 (x′, y′) in the navigation plane 402 given by equation(13):

x′=x′ _(t)*cos(Θ)−y _(t) sin(Θ); y′=x′ _(t)*sin(Θ)+y _(t) cos(Θ)  (13)

The refined absolute coordinates (x′, y′) provides precise absoluteposition of the entity 200 with respect to the predetermined path 304with a maximum error of, for example 10 cm.

According to one embodiment herein, the analytics unit 112 derives theabsolute orientation of the entity using the relative orientation of theentity provided by the relative position and orientation estimation unit108. As the transformed path in 404 is parallel to Y axis, theorientation of the transformed path is 90°. By refining the absoluteorientation of the transformed path shown in 404 using the relativeorientation of the entity followed by rotation of the plane back to theoriginal orientation of the navigation plane 402, the absoluteorientation of the entity in the navigation plane 402 is obtained. Aweighted combination of this absolute orientation and the coarseabsolute orientation provided by the coarse absolute position andorientation estimation unit (106) provides the final refined absoluteorientation of the entity as derived by the analytics unit (112). Theweightages are decided based on the accuracy offered by the specificrelative input from the relative position and orientation estimationunit 108 and the coarse absolute position and orientation estimationunit (106).

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating a process of find the refinedabsolute position and refined absolute orientation of an entity at apredetermined frequency/interval to facilitate navigation of the entity200 along a predetermined path in a navigation space, using the system102 of FIG. 1 , according to one embodiment herein. At step 502, anavigation of the entity is initiated along the predetermined path inthe navigation space. At step 504, at least one of: a coarse absoluteposition and a coarse absolute orientation of the entity is determinedbased on a position data captured by a first set of sensors from among aplurality of sensors, disposed on a first plurality of locations on theentity. At step 506, at least one of: a plurality of relative positionand a relative orientation, of the entity is determined with respect tothe predetermined path based on a set of data captured from a second setof diversified sensors from among the plurality of sensors, disposed ona second plurality of locations on the entity. At step 508, selecting atleast one of: a relative position and relative orientation of the entitywith respect to the predetermined path from among the plurality ofrelative position and relative orientation based on the coarse absoluteposition and a navigation map. At step 510, a refined absolute positionand a refined absolute orientation of the entity is determined by finetuning: the coarse absolute position based on relative position and thecoarse absolute orientation based on relative orientation using annavigation map, wherein the navigation map is generated based on a mapdata and a machine learning model based on a historical navigation data.At step 512, it is verified if the destination is reached. Upon reachingthe destination, at step 514, the navigation is stopped. Upon notreaching the destination steps 504 to 512 are repeated.

FIG. 6 represents a typical navigation scenario wherein the entity movesacross various sections of the navigation space as it traverses frompoint A to D, according to one embodiment herein. During the course ofnavigation, for each section, relative position of the entity isobtained based on the context and the attributes offered by therespective section of the layout and provided by the navigation map. Forexample, when the entity navigates through section AB, the relativeposition is obtained with respect to the adjacent wall on the left side(602). Between point B and C, the lane markings (604) offer arepresentation of the relative position of the entity with respect tothe lane lines. Again, to navigate through section CD, the adjacent wallon the right side (606) is used to find the relative position of theentity. Seamless switch-over between sensors during navigation based onthe context of the given navigation section is supported by thenavigation map.

FIG. 7 shows the improvements offered by the present invention withrefined representation of the absolute position and orientation of theentity that enhances the ability of the entity to navigate reliably andreach the target successfully, according to one embodiment herein. Thecomparison of the trajectory, for a given navigation, between therefined absolute position (704) and the coarse absolute position (702)clearly demonstrates the consistency in the trajectory offered by thepresent invention.

FIG. 8 illustrates an embodiment to find the relative orientation of theentity using proximity sensing devices that form part of the second setof diversified sensors, according to one embodiment herein. According tothe embodiment, explained further along with FIGS. 4A-4B, the navigationplane 402 is rotated so as to align the predetermined path parallel tothe Y-axis. In this transformed plane 404, using the distance measureprovided by the proximity sensors 802 a-c, slope of the straight lineconnecting 802 a-c can be obtained in the transformed plane 404. Byrotating the entity back to the navigation plane 402, the slope of thestraight line undergoes similar rotation. The revised slope of this linegives a measure of an interim representation of the absolute orientationof the entity in the navigation plane 402, wherein the refined absoluteorientation of the entity (200) is obtained as a weighted combination ofthe coarse absolute orientation and the interim representation of theabsolute orientation of the entity.

The various embodiments of system and process of navigating an entityalong a predetermined path in a navigation space disclosed hereinfacilitate an instantaneous accurate representation of absolute positionusing a combination of absolute positioning system, one such embodimentbeing wireless technology (local positioning system), and embodiments ofrelative sensor data. The present technology does not need to refer toany historical data, either short term or long term, to determine theposition, there is no need for a training phase to generate any templatefor future comparison. Additionally, since in the present technology thedata from multiple sensors are captured simultaneously to arrive atinstantaneous absolute position representation, with no reference to anyhistorical data, quality of the absolute position remains the same anddoes not degrade during any interval of time due to dependency onrecency of old data and also the absolute position does not depend onany fixed references on the floor. Thus, the vulnerability associatedwith dynamic changes in the location of the fixed references iscompletely avoided. Planned changes like introduction of a newnavigation path, demolition of an existing wall, construction of a newwall and the like would anyway get updated in the unique floor mapmaintained for the location. Moreover, the present technology provides acost-effective system and process that provides good accuracy along witheliminating the dependency on any dynamically changing scenario on thefloor unless it is a planned change like change in the navigation path,modifying the layout like breaking a wall, and the like.

Additionally, the present technology enables determining a refinedabsolute position and refined absolute orientation of an entity in anavigation space that achieves accurate absolute position using coarseabsolute position and a unique combination of relative positionsextracted from diversified sensors using specific features in thenavigation space. The present technology also enables a seamlessswitch-over between sensors during navigation based on the context assupported by a unique navigation map providing better accuracy comparedto existing techniques. The present technology enables navigation of anentity reliably using the refined absolute position and refined absoluteorientation of the entity thus minimizing the deviation from ideal pathand reaching the target faithfully.

The foregoing description of the specific embodiments will so fullyreveal the general nature of the embodiments herein that others can, byapplying current knowledge, readily modify and/or adapt for variousapplications such specific embodiments without departing from thegeneric concept, and, therefore, such adaptations and modificationsshould and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and rangeof equivalents of the disclosed embodiments. It is to be understood thatthe phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose ofdescription and not of limitation. Therefore, while the embodimentsherein have been described in terms of preferred embodiments, thoseskilled in the art will recognize that the embodiments herein can bepracticed with modification within the spirit and scope of the appendedclaims.

Although the embodiments herein are described with various specificembodiments, it will be obvious for a person skilled in the art topractice the embodiments herein with modifications.

I/We claim:
 1. A system (102) for determining an instantaneous absoluteposition and absolute orientation of an entity in a navigation space,the system comprising: a plurality of sensors (104) comprising a firstset of sensors disposed on a first plurality of locations on the entity(200), wherein the first set of sensors are part of a cartesiancoordinate system provided by a local positioning system formed using atechnology selected from a group consisting of UWB, Bluetooth, Zig-bee,Ultrasound, and a second set of diversified sensors disposed on a secondplurality of locations on the entity (200); a coarse absolute positionand orientation estimation unit (106) configured to determine at leastone of: a coarse absolute position and a coarse absolute orientation, ofthe entity (200) based on a position data captured in a two-dimensionalcartesian plane of the cartesian coordinate system at a predeterminedfrequency/interval by the first set of sensors (304); a relativeposition and orientation estimation unit (108) configured to determineat least one of: a relative position and a relative orientation, of theentity (200) with respect to the predetermined path (304) based on a setof data captured at a predetermined frequency/interval from the secondset of diversified sensors wherein the data captured represent one of arelative deviation and a relative inclination of the entity with respectto one of the predetermined physical features in the navigation space; anavigation guidance unit (110) configured to generate a navigation mapthat provides unique attributes based on a desired navigable layoutidentified in the indoor navigation space and to update one or more ofthe attributes of the navigation map dynamically as a learning/feedbackbased on a historical navigation data wherein the navigation guidanceunit (110) is positioned inside the entity (200) or outside the entity;and an analytics unit (112) configured to determine at least one of arefined absolute position and a refined absolute orientation of theentity (200) at a predetermined frequency/interval by fine tuning: thecoarse absolute position and the coarse absolute orientation based on 1)one or more of the plurality of inputs provided by the relative positionand orientation estimation unit (108), 2) coarse absolute position ofthe entity and 3) the unique attributes provided by the navigationguidance unit (110); wherein the entity (200) comprises a stationaryobject or a mobile object.
 2. The system (102) as claimed in claim 1,wherein the analytics unit (112) is configured to: transform thepredetermined path (304) by rotating a navigation plane associated withthe predetermined path (304) by a rotation angle so as to align thepredetermined path (304) parallel to one of X-axis or Y-axis of thetwo-dimensional cartesian plane and to generate a transformed navigationplane (404) wherein the coarse absolute position undergoes same rotationto become transformed coarse absolute position of the entity; apply arefinement to the transformed coarse absolute position based on one ormore of the plurality of inputs from the relative position andorientation estimation unit to obtain a transformed refined absoluteposition of the entity (200) on the transformed navigation plane (404),wherein the refinement is a simple substitution of a combination of atransformed ideal coordinate value of interest and one or more of theplurality of deviations from the predetermined path obtained from amongthe plurality of inputs from the relative position and orientationestimation unit (108), to either X or Y value of the transformed coarseabsolute position coordinates of the entity (200) depending up on therotation applied during transformation of the plane, and wherein thetransformed ideal coordinate value of interest is equal to one of thetransformed ideal starting point coordinate values selected based on thetransformation applied, and wherein, the transformed ideal coordinatevalue of interest is equal to X coordinate value for a transformedpredetermined path aligned parallel to the Y-axis of the cartesian planeand vice versa, and wherein the ideal starting point is the theoreticalcoordinates for the starting node in the line segment obtained from thenavigation map; and obtaining a refined absolute position of the entity(200) by rotating the transformed navigation plane (404) in the reversedirection by same quantity which is equal to the rotation angle back tothe original orientation of the navigation plane (402), and wherein thetransformed refined absolute position is rotated by the same angle toprovide the refined absolute position of the entity (200).
 3. The system(102) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the analytics unit (112) isconfigured to: derive the refined absolute orientation of the entitybased on 1) the relative orientation of the entity obtained from therelative position and orientation estimation unit (108) and 2) thecoarse absolute orientation obtained from the coarse absolute positionand orientation estimation unit (104); wherein the relative orientationof the entity with respect to the predetermined path (304) provided bythe relative position and orientation estimation unit (108) along withits sign of orientation is added to the orientation of the predeterminedpath in the transformed navigation plane 404 to obtain the transformedabsolute orientation of the entity in the transformed navigation plane404; wherein the orientation of the predetermined path in thetransformed plane 404 is either the same as X-axis or Y-axis based onthe transformation applied; wherein by rotating the plane 404, in thereverse direction by same quantity as the rotation angle, back to theoriginal orientation of the navigation plane 402, the transformedabsolute orientation angle undergoes similar rotation and provides aninterim representation of the absolute orientation of the entity (200).wherein the refined absolute orientation of the entity (200) is obtainedas a weighted combination of the coarse absolute orientation and theinterim representation of the absolute orientation of the entity.
 4. Thesystem (102) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the analytics unit (112) isconfigured to select and use one or more of the relative positions andthe relative orientation from the relative position and orientationestimation unit from among a plurality of inputs, and wherein suchplurality of inputs to the analytics unit is derived by the relativeposition and orientation unit using the diversified set of sensors amongthe second set of sensors. The choice of the specific input to be usedis guided by the navigation map based on the coarse absolute position ofthe entity (200).
 5. The system (102) as claimed in claim 1, wherein theanalytics unit (112) is configured to seamlessly select the relativeposition and the relative orientation from among a plurality of inputsfrom the relative position and orientation estimation unit whilenavigating through a plurality of mutually different sections of anavigation layout involving either a plurality of line segments or asingle line segment with mutually different physical attributes, andwherein the selection is guided by the navigation map based on thecoarse absolute position of the entity (200), and wherein the navigationmap provides the physical attributes associated with each such linesegment wherein the physical attribute is a wall adjacent to thenavigation path along with its side, or a presence of lane marking. 6.The system (102) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first plurality oflocations on the entity (200) comprises a front end and a rear end ofthe entity (200), and wherein the second plurality of locations selectedfrom a group consisting of a left side of the entity (200), a right sideof the entity (200), a front end of the entity (200) and a back end ofthe entity (200).
 7. The apparatus (102) as claimed in claim 1, whereinthe second plurality of sensors comprises proximity sensing devices, andimage capture devices, and wherein upon using such diversified set ofsensors, the relative position and orientation estimation unit (108)provides a plurality of inputs to the analytics unit (112) representinga relative position and an relative orientation of the entity (200)relative to the predetermined path (304) derived based on a set of datacaptured at a predetermined frequency/interval from the second set ofdiversified sensors, and wherein the data captured represent one of arelative deviation and a relative inclination of the entity with respectto certain known fixed physical features in the navigation space andwherein the relative position and orientation estimation unit (108)derives a plurality of such relative position and relative orientationbased on the diversified set of data captured from the second set ofdiversified sensors
 8. A method to provide one of a refined absoluteposition and a refined absolute orientation of an entity at predefinedfrequency/interval to facilitate navigation of the entity along apredetermined path in a navigation space, the process comprising stepsof: a) initiating (502) navigation of the entity along the predeterminedpath in the space; b) determining (504) at least one of: a coarseabsolute position and a coarse absolute orientation of the entity basedon a set of position data captured by a first set of sensors from amonga plurality of sensors, disposed on a first plurality of locations onthe entity; c) determining (506) at least one of: a plurality ofrelative position and relative orientation, of the entity with respectto the predetermined path based on a set of data captured from a secondset of diversified sensors from among the plurality of sensors, disposedon a second plurality of locations on the entity; d) selecting (508) atleast one of: a relative position and relative orientation of the entitywith respect to the predetermined path from among the plurality ofrelative position and relative orientation based on the coarse absoluteposition and a navigation map e) determining (510) a refined absoluteposition and a refined absolute orientation of the entity by finetuning: the coarse absolute position based on selected relativeposition, and the coarse absolute orientation based on selected relativeorientation, using a navigation map, wherein the navigation map isgenerated and updated based on a map data and a machine learning modelbased on a historical navigation data; f) verifying (512) if thedestination is reached; and g) performing any one of: i) repeating stepsb) to f) upon the destination not being reached; and ii) stopping (514)navigation of the entity upon destination being reached.
 9. The methodas claimed in claim 8, comprises selecting the relative position and therelative orientation from among a plurality of inputs from the relativeposition and orientation estimation unit, and wherein the plurality ofinputs is derived by the relative position and orientation unit usingthe diversified set of sensors among the second set of sensors, andwherein the specific input to be used is selected by the navigation mapbased on the coarse absolute position of the entity.
 10. The method asclaimed in claim 8, comprises seamlessly selecting and using therelative position and the relative orientation from a plurality ofinputs from the relative position and orientation estimation unit whilenavigating through different sections of a navigation layout comprisinga plurality of line segments or a single line segment with mutuallydifferent physical attributes, and wherein the selection is guided bythe navigation map based on the coarse absolute position of the entity,and wherein the navigation map provides the physical attributesassociated with each such line segment, and wherein the physicalattribute is selected from a group consisting of a wall adjacent to thenavigation path along with its side, and a presence of lane marking.